Written by LineStar contributor, combat sports enthusiast, and practitioner, Chris Guy. Instagram: @therealsethgeko | Twitter: @DadHallOfFamer

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Main Card

Marvin Vettori (-150) vs. Roman Dolidze (+125)

Vettori: DK: $8.2k | Dolidze: DK:$8k

This main event came out of nowhere. The good news is it can’t be worse than last weekend’s main event... (cowers in fear). I’m still typing, homies. I’m rocking orthopedic Sketchers with extra thick four-inch rubber soles lest I be struck down by lightning for saying a Fist Gawd, aka Alex Pereira, fight was wiggity wack. Such blasphemy usually ends in some biblical smiting. I’m going to push my luck - Pereira fought scared... (crawls up in the fetal position). I’m still typing, homies. I would have fought the UFC 313 version of Poatan... BOOOOOM! My clothes are in tatters and smoldering, I have no eyebrows, my fingertips are yellow, and I’m rocking the Fire Marshall Bill fade, but I’m still typing, homies. 

Vettori vs. Dolidze is a rematch that nobody asked for. The fight was cool the first time. At its conclusion, the beef seemed cooked - well done. But here we are. We haven’t seen Marvin “The Martian” Vettori in nearly two years. How does Marvin not use that nickname instead of “The Italian Dream?” That sounds like the pet name for the hunk in one of Grammy’s romance novels. It sounds like a Brazzers stage name. Speaking of Brazzers, Vettori looked like a fluffer after the first round of his last bout against Jared Cannonier. He had Cannoier on a pair of skates like Boogie Nights early in the first round but couldn’t seal the deal. Vettori played chicken with the dub and lost. He sampled the dub as if he was at Costco. Vettori played the dub like LeBron played the Cavs when he participated in “The Decision,” only to dump them—It’s not you; it’s me—on national television. Marvin proceeded to lose rounds two through five and was ultimately outstruck by nearly one hundred significant strikes.   

But, of course, all that is old shit, and we like to focus on the new at the WKO. Marvin Vettori is a Tyson’s Punch Out! character if I’ve ever seen one. He would probably fit in somewhere between Piston Honda and Don Flamenco; he’s not a can like Doc Louis, but at the same time, not a killer like Soda Popinski, formerly known as Vodka Drunkenski, either. Vettori has the same robotic, two-dimensional movement and two basic punches. I can’t hate on Vettori, though. He has been a solid fighter in the middleweight division for nearly a decade. He even challenged for the title once. Vettori is just good enough to not be good enough.  

Marvin Vettori is the 90s Utah Jazz. He’s the 90s Bills. I liken Vettori to a pit bull with dolphin teeth. He looks scary AF, but his bark is more dangerous than his bite. Yo! Hit that Reservoir Dogs! “Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie? Or are you gonnna bite?” Marvin will bite, but it’s like that of a teething baby. My man only has two finishes in fifteen UFC appearances, and one came in his debut. Vettori only has two career TKO/KOs. He’s like a 2000 Honda Civic hatchback on Pimp My Ride with a jacuzzi in the back and a refrigerator in the front seat. But it still has the same shitty four-banger engine with three blown-out spark plugs. At least you’ll be chillin’ while you wait for AAA on the side of the road. Marvin is an anti-finisher. He can’t finish a fight, and he can’t be finished. In twenty-six career bouts, no one has ever finished Vettori. If you asked a couple of his former Bettys, they would tell you... never mind. Vettori has airbags for hands and a chin made from the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. 

Vettori’s special weapon is his chin. His chin can take more shots than Lily Thomas. More shots than Meek’s... Simmer down. This MF is tougher than putting the straw in a Capri Sun. You can hit him, and he’ll cut a rug - start spinning on his head on some Turbo and Ozone type-ish, but you’ll gas out trying to finish him. Vettori is the pioneer of the Homer Simpson defense. When he fought the boxcar Willies, Homer let them punch him in the face until they were too tired to stand. Then he would just push them over. If there was no time limit, Vettori might never lose. Other than a severe lack of defensive prowess, Vettori’s major malfunction is repetitiveness. He’s a Groundhog Day striker – the same basic 1s and 1-2s set on repeat with the ten-second anti-skip activated. Yo! Hit that Gza on Chappelle’s Show! “You need to diversify your bonds, homie.” Vettori’s striking is bland, like hospital food. He needs to add some seasoning to his striking. Like that nifty collar tie uppercut that Gaethje throws. Maybe try to throw a kick once in a while. Something.   

Marvin won the first bout with volume. He out-struck Roman Dolidze one hundred six to seventy-one in a three-rounder. Volume will once again be the key for Vettori. Dolidze suffers from an identity crisis. Is he a striker? Or is he a grappler? I know one thing, he’s a scary-looking MF. This guy sweats testosterone. He had chest hair in his newborn photos. Homie couldn’t go to sixth-grade camp because he couldn’t find anyone to watch his parents. This guy could walk through a fertility clinic lobby and turn all those negatives into positives. World birthrates skyrocket noine months after every Dolidze fight. Billionaires saved him a spot in the bunker to repopulate the earth with more drones after they usher in nuclear winter.   

On the feet, Dolidze’s style doesn’t look like much. He moves like a GTA character, and his hand speed is like he left the emergency brakes on. Dolidze’s hands spark and make grinding sounds when he starts throwing. But he makes up for lack of hand speed with power. His hands leave impressions in you like orthodontists. He turns you into a square on the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame. His major malfunction on the feet is that he doesn’t put combinations together very well and lacks a coherent cadence. He relies on intermittent bursts of aggression. From the top position, he static shocks you with his chest hair and chips away with nasty ground pound. He even has two heel hook submissions on his record. But Dolidze often struggles to relocate fights consistently. A power double-leg is the extent of Dolidze’s takedown arsenal. Dolidze will have to work in some wrestling to change the outcome from the first fight. He can’t keep up with Vettori’s output on the feet. 

Vettori will be the (-140) favorite, and Dolidze will be the (+120) live dog. The more active fighter always has an advantage. Dolidze fought three times in 2024, while Vettori was M.I.A. And Dolidze is riding a two-fight dub streak. Roman will also be the bigger finishing threat, even against a guy who has never been finished. But Dolidze has never been finished, either. The play for this one is a decision one way or the other. Fantasy-wise, Vettori averages four and a half SLpM to Dolidze’s three. Vettori is almost guaranteed to eclipse the one-hundred strikes mark. Even against Cannonier, Marvin landed one hundred fifty-three significant strikes. 

The main event dub streak came to an unexpected halt last weekend. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have that one marked off as a dub on my calendar. Alex Pereira losing a main event is crazy work. The x-factor this week is Vettori’s year-and-a-half hiatus. But I don’t see Dolidze turning the tide on the feet from the previous fight. Marvin Vettori via decision. Put it on wax. 

Props

Vettori: TKO/KO (+1100) Sub (+900) Dec (+100) 

Dolidze: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+1000) Dec (+350)

Winner: Marvin Vettori | Method: Decision

Chidi Nojokuani (+170) vs. Elizeu Dos Santos (-205)

Chidi: DK: $7.8k | Dos Santos: DK: $8.4k

Never forget when Elizeu Dos Santos nearly caught a body inside the Octagon. I’ll never forget the time I got SWAT’d while rewatching the Dos Santos vs. St. Denis fight. I’m talking flash bangs, repelling through my popcorn ceiling, shooting the German Shepherd stuffed animal I won at the State Fair, all that shit. Carrion birds circled and pecked at St. Denis while Dos Santos blasted him repeatedly. It looked like an old-school snuff film you would accidentally download on LimeWire while trying to download “New Unreleased Eminem!” If you know, you grew up in a great era and probably had to burn a hard drive or two. They almost had to euthanize St. Denis like a thoroughbred with a broken leg after that fight. ESPN had to switch live coverage to a Cornhole tournament replay in the middle of that fight. 

Elizeu Dos Santos has been an undercover savage for over a decade. He knocked out Sean Strickland with a spinning wheel-kick back in 2018. Yep, he was kicking Strickland’s ass long before DDP made it cool. Dos Santos also has a dub over a Nurmagomedov. Which one? Does it matter? I don’t care if it was just a Nurmagomedov franchise owner. If I even KO’d someone with a name that long, I’d be strutting like Vince McMahon everywhere I go and hit the Rick Flair strut when I entered a room. Elizeu reminds me of a real-life Wolverine. Hugh Jackman looks like a Hollywood Blvd. Elizeu Dos Santos. This MF has fists of adamantium, and it's like car crashes every time they land. His hands leave you with internal bleeding, coughing up blood and shit. You make a cameo on the “Faces of Death” remake after a fight with Dos Santos. His hands are battering rams used to breach castles in medieval times. Dos Santos lacks hand speed, but his hands are literally heavy like bowling balls. 

Overall, Dos Santos doesn’t have any areas where he can’t compete – he has no glaring holes. He will slowly grind Chidi down on the feet if he can stay out of the clinch. Both strikers average around four and a half SLpM, and barring a knockdown, I don’t see this fight going to the mat. Dos Santos averages just over a half takedown per fifteen minutes, but wrestling isn’t the main feature of his game. For his career, Elizeu is 25-8 with fifteen TKO/KOs and three subs. 

Staying out of the clinch is easier said than done. Chidi is a garbage disposal in the clinch. He did construction on Brazilian Deebo’s (Gregory Rodrigues) face. Chidi invoked eminent domain and opened a six-lane highway between Deebo’s eyes with a knee in the clinch. It looked like the Louisiana Purchase between Deebo’s eyes. But upon landing that knee, Chidi immediately realized he had fooked up. The rest of the fight went down like “When ‘Keeping It Real’ Goes Wrong." Chidi went on to get finished shortly after landing that knee. He is a dangerous striker, but Chidi often gets bullied on the feet and fights too passively. Also, he’s painfully technical. 

Chidi consciously tries to paint a perfect picture, not realizing perfection can only be achieved when conscious thought takes a back seat to creative instincts. The true nature of art is imperfection. Those are some WKO words of wisdom, homies. That’s a purple-y prose way of saying Chidi fights too much inside the box. Chidi is like the M. Knight Shamalamalan movie The Village. The people in the village never venture out because there are monsters in the woods. It turns out (Spoiler Alert) that the monsters are just some elders dressed up with masks on, trying to keep the villagers from discovering the outside world. Chidi won’t venture out beyond his comfort zone. Basic combinations and unreliable output is Chidi’s M.O. But Chidi’s majorest malfunction is his ground game. He looks like he looks like he walked into the Employees Only area on the mat. He looks lost and confused – out of place. 

“Hey! Do you work here, buddy?” 

“No. I’m looking for the bathroom. And I ain’t your buddy, homie.” 

Chidi is 24-10 with fourteen TKO/KOs and one sub. He has sharp, precise kickboxing and is far more technical than Dos Santos. Chidi will also have a speed advantage. But will he match Dos Santos’ aggression? Dos Santos is the (-180) favorite, and Chidi is the (+150) live-ish dog. Chidi tends to fade if you can withstand his initial onslaught of speed and explosive physical attributes. I like the value in a Dos Santos TKO finish. Chidi has eight career losses, and eight came via finish, including five TKO/KOs. Chidi is also a serious finishing threat. Dos Santos has only been stopped on the feet once in his career, but Chidi can sleep anybody if he shows up in the mood to kick some ass. I would play Chidi for a decision, though. He is on a two-fight dub streak, and both came via decision against two inferior opponents. This one is a toss-up. Elizeu Dos Santos via TKO, round three. On wax.   

Props

Dos Santos: TKO/KO (+175) Sub (+1000) Dec (+215) 

Chidi: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+1600) Dec (+500)

Winner: Elizeu Dos Santos | Method: TKO Rd.3

Kevin Vallejos (-600) vs. Seung Woo Choi (+440)

Vallejos: DK: $9.1k | Choi: DK:$7.1k

Out with the old shit and in with the new shit. We got an ass-kicking on deck with this matchup. Kevin Vallejos is making his debut, but all you need to know about him is that he went the distance on the Contender Series with Jean Silva. Yes, the Fighting Nerd Jean Silva. You have to be a bad MF to last a round with Jean Silva, much less make it to the final bell. Vallejos got a shot at redemption with a second appearance on the CS and made the most of it. He fought a Hollywood Blvd. Ronald McDonald who looked like he was on his lunch break at the PlayPlace. My man looked like Scott Tenorman, and Vallejos drank his tears like Cartman. But it’s never that easy under the bright lights of the Octagon. Seung Woo Choi will be a step up from Vallejos most recent opponent and a step down from the time he fought Jean Silva. This one is almost a guaranteed finish. Someone is getting got.   

Vallejos has a special weapon: Counter right hands. He had counter right hands set on repeat against Scott Tinnerman. For Vallejos, the answer to every question is “counter right hand.” Who killed Kennedy? A lone counter right hand on the sixth floor of the book depository (even though an employee testified that it was in the breakroom at the time of the shooting and said testimony was left out of the Warren Commission). Timing is the key to a counter cross. Vallejos waits on your first move and slips to the outside while simultaneously firing his right hand. Ol Ronald McDonald must have run into a dozen times.   

Kevin Vallejos has excellent physical attributes, but what makes his striking especially dangerous is his commitment to throwing combinations. This kid has more combos than high school lockers. Vallejos consistently reaches third and fourth level punches. Also, he’s nasty with body shots. And I ain’t talking belly buttons and lime wedges. My man will fook you up quicker than street food in Calcutta. I’m talking cooking with your feet type-ish. Using your hand like a soup ladle. Vallejos throws on his Sunday’s best fight shorts and paints the town brown. He is worse for your liver than drinking a handle of whiskey every night. You walk out that bish with cirrhosis. They put your liver on display at the Bodies Museum next to the smoker’s lungs. And when you start dropping your hands to defend your gut, Vallejos comes over the top with overhands. He’s excellent at attacking with uppercuts from below and overhands from above, the two most difficult peripherals to defend.  

Vallejos is 14-1 with ten TKO/KOs and two subs. If he attacks Seung Woo Choi with combinations as he did on the Contender Series, Vallejos might walk through Choi like an open door. Choi will have to turn that Woo into a Rick Flair Wooooo! if he wants to have a chance against Vallejos. He’ll have to turn that Woo into a Wu and get lifted in the staircases if he wants to break out of his slump like some Incarcerated Scarfaces. Choi has lost four of his last five fights. His Sherdog record looks like rush hour traffic lately, all brake lights. Choi’s major malfunction is that he is a bit of a square. He’s mostly just a boxer with a limited ground game. This kid fights like he knows the difference between a salad and a main entre fork. He punches with his pinkies up. He has those Grey Poupon hands. Privileged hands. His hands were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Choi’s hands need some calluses. He needs to swing an axe or handle a jackhammer for a day or two to toughen up his hands.   

Choi has straight, crispy hands but lacks a true savage’s temperament. His arsenal consists mostly of basic 1s, 1-2s, and straight right hands. Choi needs to get outside the box like ghost-riding a Monte Carlo. He needs some creative inspiration. His style reminds me of an Asimov robot – preprogrammed punches and movements. Choi needs some unorthodoxy in his life. In ten UFC bouts, Choi only has one finish. He needs to hire a contract killer or something. I heard Boeing knows a few of those. For the record, I do not wish to self-backspace. Someone will have to rub two sticks together and light a fire under Choi’s ass if he is going to have a chance against this young lion, Vallejos.   

Choi is 11-7 with six TKO/KOs and is coming in off a first-round TKO L to the Lil Savage That Could, Steve Garcia. Vallejos will be the higher-output striker, averaging nearly seven SLpM (two measurable bouts) compared to Choi’s three and a half. That’s a huge discrepancy that Choi will have to make up for by committing to combinations and not just pot-shotting from the outside. Vallejos will be the massive (-535) favorite, and Choi will be the (+400) mangy-ass dog. This really feels like a showcase fight for Vallejos. Of his four recent losses, three came via finish, including two TKO/KOs. The only play for Choi is a decision. And I like playing Vallejos for a late finish. Kevin Vallejos via TKO, round three. Put it on wax.   

Props

Vallejos: TKO/KO (-175) Sub (+800) Dec (+350) 

Choi: TKO/KO (+1000) Sub (+2500) Dec (+900)

Winner: Kevin Vallejos | Method: TKO Rd.3

Alexander Hernandez (-205) vs. Kurt Holobaugh (+170)

Hernandez: DK: $8.6k | Holobaugh: DK: $7.6k

This one should be an undercover grimy little scrap. Kurt “Don’t Call Him Kirt” Holobaugh looks straight out of the Spike TV era of the UFC; he has an old MMA soul. He looks like a classic Junior College wrestler-turned-fighter. More importantly, Holobaugh rocks a skunk-shart white splotch on his dome. In my experience, kids with the skunk-shart usually had to eat bag cereal, Vienna sausages, and ham olive loaf growing up and are quite bitter and ready to swing on you at the slightest perceived affront. Holobaugh stuffed Austin “Old Mother” Hubbard into a cupboard on the Ultimate Fighter finale and won the season in 2023. He will be up against the underachieving Alexander “The Okay” Hernandez. After sleeping Benny Dariush in his debut in 2018, Hernandez has been a grab bag of inconsistent performances. If the best version of him shows up against Holobaugh, this would be his fight to lose. However it unfolds, this is some slick matchmaking.   

Kurt Holobaugh looks like he smells like neoprene and Bengay. Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can’t be talking like that around here. Holobaugh is built like a slow-pitch softball player. My man looks like if he played in the NBA in the 90s, he would wear goggles on the court. He looks like one of Cletus Spuckler’s kids all grown up. But don’t let any of that fool you. This guy is tougher than the squirrel steak he ate after weigh-ins. Holobaugh’s style reminds me of the old fighter Matt Lindland. Lindland was a grimy-ass MF. He was known for not bathing the entire week leading up to a fight, so he would smell like swamp ass when he grabbed hold of you. You could douse yourself in tomato sauce and still not get Lindland’s ass smell off you. It was a mental tactic to add an extra element for opponents to overcome. Holobaugh won’t wow you with technical or athletic ability. He’s a grinder who will dig you out in the clinch and from the top position. And if he ends up on his back in a wild scramble, Holobaugh has a sneaky-good guard. 

Holobaugh’s path to victory will be dragging Hernandez into deep waters where Hernandez tends to fade. Holobaugh wins fights by dominating the gray areas – clinch striking and striking off breaks. At least early, he will be at a speed and power disadvantage on the feet. He will have to push Hernandez against the cage early and look to drag him to the mat. Holobaugh is 21-8 with seven TKO/KOs and ten subs. This is his second stint in the UFC after going 0-3 in his first. But he fought a high-level competition: Raoni Barcelos, Shane Burgos, and Thiago Moises.   

Alex Hernandez is like the lion from The Wizard of Oz. He has all the tools to be an excellent fighter but never mastered the mental side of the game. When you expect the world from Hernandez, he hands you Preston, Idaho. When you expect him to hand you Preston, Idaho, he drops the world on your fookin’ head like Lil Weezy and Eminem. Yo! Hit that “Drop the World!” Charles Dickens wrote a book about Alex Hernandez: A Tale of Two Rounds. After about seven minutes, his fight shorts turn into Tyson's ass-less chaps. You can sit back and watch Hernandez start to break.   

The only thing to fear is Anthony Hernandez himself. Fear is the Hernandez killer. If he can’t get you out of there early, Hernandez starts to fade and become less sure of himself. If you can’t handle the heat... Hernandez bounces as soon as the burner is lit. My man needs floaties in the deep end. In deep waters, Hernandez looks like he’s caught in a rip current – he drowns like Obama and Clinton chefs. Again, I am not a danger to myself. But despite his mental shortcomings, Hernandez will still punch a hole in your fookin’ chest on some Ray Longo type-ish. He still has speed and power to burn on the feet. Hernandez’s striking is like wrestler-striking without the wrestling. His primary measure of closing the distance is with his right hand. And if he puts it on you, mushroom clouds. The key for him against Holobaugh will be avoiding the clinch. He can beat Holobaugh from the outside. Prime Hernandez would smoke Holobaugh, in my humble opinion. But Hernandez has been around the block a few times. 

Hernandez is 15-8 with six TKO/KOs and two subs. Both fighters average around four and a half SLpM and just under one takedown per fifteen minutes. The difference is in their takedown defenses. Hernandez rocks a seventy-one percent takedown defense, and Holobaugh has a forty-two percent takedown defense. But Holobaugh doesn’t mind being on his back because he can submit you from his guard. I think the play for this one is a decision one way or the other. Damn, I'm torn on this one. There is just no telling what Hernandez will look like. He could blast out Holobaugh in the first round or get dragged around the cage for fifteen minutes. Hernandez is the (-205) favorite, and Holobaugh is the (+170) live-ass dog. This is it. This is the last time I pick Hernandez. Alexander Hernandez via decision. On wax. 

Props

Hernandez: TKO/KO (+350) Sub (+1800) Dec (+100)  

Holobaugh: TKO/KO (+500) Sub (+750) Dec (+500)

Winner: Alexander Hernandez | Method: Decision

Da’Mon Blackshear (-485) vs. Cody Gibson (+370)

Blackshear: DK: $9.2k | Gibson: DK: $7k

At the heart of this one is a grappler vs. grappler matchup. Da’Mon “Don’t Call Him Damon” Blackshear is a tough, underrated little scrapper. He’s built like old shit. Like things your grandparents handed down – armoires and dinner tables that could survive a nuclear holocaust. Do they still make armoires? Picture me handing down to my son my Ikea dresser with cardboard backing. Anywho, if someone tried to create Neil Magny on Create-A-fighter mode, he would look similar to Da’Mon Blackshear. They are decent strikers and surprisingly good grapplers unless facing high-level competition. Cody Gibson is right in Blackshear’s ass-kicking wheelhouse. Gibson is the exact type of fighter that Blackshear should dominate. “Should” being the operative word.   

On the feet, Blackshear isn’t much to text home about. His striking is a little stiff like socks at the bottom of the hamper. His striking needs a little fabric softener to loosen things up. Blackshear’s best weapon on the feet is a “get over here!” Scorpion right hand. He can’t hit you from clear across the screen when you think you are safe from attacks. But striking isn’t what got Blackshear to the dance. That would be his ground game.  

On the mat, Blackshear is terminal. You’ll quit your job as a high school chemistry teacher and start cooking Blue Sky if he gets you to the mat. Blackshear has a long frame and can tie you up in embarrassing positions. Like a fookin’ Twister. Blackshear has one of only three Twister submissions ever finished inside the Octagon. That position is like going to a fooked up chiropractor. If I got caught in a Twister in a dream, I’d wake up and Power Slap myself. There’s no coming back from that level of public humiliation. This guy will turn you into a recluse. You’ll be playing somber notes on an organ in the basement of an opera house real quick. The mat is lava when you face Blackshear. You can’t let any part of your body touch the mat, or that’s that ass. Blackshear is 15-7 with two TKO/KOs and ten subs, including 3-3-1 in the UFC. All three of his losses came against stiff competition. 

My grandpappy used to have a saying when describing a physically inferior man: “He’s too light in the ass,” he would say. I think Cody Gibson might be a little too light in the ass for Da’Mon Blackshear. He's missing something. Gibson is like Cap’n Crunch without the crunchberries. He’s like the vanilla strip in a Neapolitan ice cream tub that's left over after the strawberry and chocolate are gone. He’s the orange flavor of any variety pack ever made. The orange flavor is still dank, but only when no other options remain. I guess Gibson is like a middle child, nothing special. I keed, I keed, middle children! The WKO is for the children! In many ways, Gibson is a lighter-hue Da’Mon Blackshear with a similar skillset but not quite as good. Gibson is like the Ali G version of Blackshear, “Booyakasha!”   

Cody’s striking is a little slicker than Blackshear’s, but he lacks the power to earn respect on the feet. He uses nifty footwork and is more of a combination striker than Blackshear, but overall, his striking isn’t very dangerous. Gibson is at his best when he can utilize his grappling. He instigates nothing but firefights on the mat. This kid rolls like doobies on the mat. Rolls like fire drills. Like a pair of dice. You already know; Gibson rolls like 80s tv Dicks (Private I’s) when they enter a scene. He’s good at forcing wild scrambles and advancing positions amid the chaos. The problem is that Blackshear will likely be too strong on the mat for Gibson. I can’t see Cody gaining the top position and maintaining it for significant stretches. 

Gibson is 21-10 with seven TKO/KOs and five submissions. The stat to keep in mind is that Gibson has been finished via submission four times. Should the fight stay standing, Blackshear is the higher output striker, averaging just under four and a half SLpM compared to Cody’s three and a half. Without a finish, Gibson will be a Fantasy bust. He won his last fight with five takedowns while only landing sixteen significant strikes. He will have difficulty scoring top control time and landing significant strikes against Blackshear. The question is, can Blackshear finish Gibson on the mat? I say yes. Da’Mon Blackshear via rear-naked choke, round two. Wax on, wax off.   

Props

Blackshear: TKO/KO (+800) Sub (+225) Dec (-115)  

Gibson: TKO/KO (+2000) Sub (+2000) Dec (+550)

Winner: Da’mon Blackshear | Method: Rear-Naked Choke Rd.2

Prelims

$7k Value Menu

Chidi Njokuani ($7.8k): Chidi “Bang Bang” is one of the few finishing threats on the Value Menu this week. Elizeu Dos Santos is getting up there in fight years, and Chidi is a dangerous striker when he wants to be. The last place on earth you want to be is inside the clinch with him. Dos Santos will have to find ways to consistently overcome Chidi’s reach. And that is risky business. My reservation for picking Chidi to win this fight is his mental game. Sometimes he just fades inexplicably. And Dos Santos remains a savage until the end. But this is a complete toss-up in my book, and Chidi will have a ton of value if the aggressive, focused C Chidi shows up.   

Ryan Spann ($7.9k): WKO rule number one is never ever ever bet on Ovince St. Preux. WKO rule number two is never ever ever bet on Ryan Spann. But here we are. You never know which version will show up. Nobody plays hard to get with the dub quite like Ryan Spann. For better or worse, this guy is a walking first-round finish. Spann will either get Waldo Acosta to the mat early and sink in a choke, or he won’t, and he will quickly get picked apart on the feet. This is Spann’s debut at heavyweight, and I’m not sure he can get larger opponents to the mat with any kind of consistency. But if he can get Waldo down, Spann can finish him. Spann is the other finishing threat on the Value Menu, but he’s the definition of an all-or-nothing pick. If the fight makes it out of the first round, Acosta will walk away with the dub.   

Kurt Holobaugh ($7.6k): This is a more conservative pick. This is a pick meant to get some points on the board. Holobaugh vs. Hernandez will likely go the distance, and Holobaugh will have plenty of time to rack up significant strikes, takedowns, and top control time. The longer the fight goes, the better Holobaugh’s chances will be of winning and scoring Fantasy points. In his last bout, Holobaugh landed nointey-two significant strikes. And although he was only credited with one takedown, he racked up over a round of control time using reversals. This guy is high activity, and this matchup should yield solid Fantasy points for both fighters.   

Clearance Rack

Yuneisy Duben ($6.9k): This lady cracks like a plumber’s ass. It ain’t pretty, but this lady throws with No Reservations on some Anthony Bourdain type-ish. She will be debuting after having the KO of the year on the Contender Series. Technique and fundaments – throw all that shit out the window. Dubemn just throws hands against the wall and sees if they stick. She will be up against a far more technical fighter in Carli Judice. But Judice is a far less dangerous fighter. Duben could get pieced up for the better part of fifteen minutes, but she will be the bigger finishing threat. Of the three Clearance Rack options, Duben will have the best shot at pulling off an upset and flipping the board.   

Twenty-Twen-Twen Sleepers

Chidi Njokuani (+165): The Twenty Twen-Twen sleepers have been Hotta Than Fishgrease lately. Yo! Hit that Jayo Felony! We’re like Steph Curry shooting at a rim the size of a hula-hoop right meow. The Twenty Twens are NBA Jam on fire. We are on an unprecedented roll. Noine Twenty Twens in a row hit. Can we reach double digits? The best chances will come on the main card. Chidi can beat Elizeu Dos Santos if he stays on his feet and uses his range. Chidi’s reach should cause Dos Santos problems, especially early. And Chidi is nasty in the clinch should the two tie up. These are excellent odds for a fight I think is a coin toss.   

Roman Dolidze (+140): I’ve been on a losing streak picking the less active fighter in a matchup. Marvin Vettori hasn’t fought since the summer of 2023, while Dolidze has been active. This will be Dolidze’s fourth fight since Vettori last stepped into the Octagon. And Dolidze is riding a two-fight winning streak, including a first-round drubbing over Kevin Holland. In the first matchup, Vettori won with sheer volume, but Dolidze landed the more impactful shots. This fight could look a lot different than the first, especially if Dolidze commits to his wrestling, even if it isn’t successful. Dolidze is a bad MFs a bad MF and worth an Andy Jackson come fight night.   

Kurt Holobaugh (+170): Holobaugh is a grinder facing a guy known to fall apart like Parks & Rec toilet paper. It won’t be pretty, but Holobaugh can make this an ugly fight in the clinch and on the mat. Alexander Hernandez is known for fading late in fights, and Holobaugh is one of those guys who gets stronger as the fight progresses. Something will have to give. Hernandez must hope for an early lead and ride it to the finish line. I could see a late finish for Holobaugh but don’t try to get cute on this one and play him straight up.   

Pick ‘Em

Su Young You (-675) vs. A.J. Cunningham (+460)  

Winner: Su Young You 

Method: Decision 

Waldo Acosta (-165) vs. Ryan Spann (+140)  

Winner: Waldo Acosta 

Method: TKO Rd.2 

Stephanie Luciano (-235) vs. Sam Hughes (+195)  

Winner: Stephanie Luciano 

Method: Decision 

Diyar Nurgozhay (-370) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (+285) 

Winner: Diyar Nurgozhay 

Method: Decision 

Carlos Vera (+550) vs. Josias Musasa (-850) 

Winner: Josias Musasa 

Method: TKO Rd.2 

Daniel Barez (+275) vs. Andre Lima (-350) 

Winner: Andre Lima 

Method: Decision 

Josiane Nunes (-170) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (+145) 

Winner: Josiane Nunes 

Method: Decision 

Yuneisy Duben (+285) vs. Carli Judice (-370) 

Winner: Carli Judice 

Method: Decision 

Thanks for reading LineStar Weekly Knockout! We'll be back next Thursday with another one. Until then, good luck and support your local MMA Gym.

About Me

My name is Chris Guy, and I’m an avid combat sports enthusiast and practitioner. I’ve been a fan of MMA since the early 2000s when Limewire was still around, and I downloaded Bas Rutten’s Big Book of Combat. In 2004, I started training Muay Thai at City Boxing in San Diego, CA. I competed as an amateur for many years, and I've also dabbled in Jiu-Jitsu. I follow many different disciplines, such as Combat Ji-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Glory Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA.

I’m equally as enthusiastic about the craft of writing, and in addition to writing about combat sports, I also write short fiction and music. I hope to bring unique prose to sports writing, and along the way, encourage people to not only become Martial Arts fans but to also become Martial Artists themselves.

In the future, you may see me refer to the Thunderdome; it's an ode to the old Mad Max movie and refers to the world-class training facility I built in my one-car garage. It's complete with throw dummies, wrestling mats, heavy bags, and six months' worth of Chef Boyardee cans from when I thought the world was going to end back in March.

I hope you enjoy my work, and if you don’t, the Thunderdome has an open door policy.